One of the cells, of five individuals, is charged with providing material support including financial support and delivering provisions to militants entrenched in the mountains of Kef.

While the second cell, of four individuals, is charged with gathering intelligence for attacks, including surveilling members of local security forces and commercial areas. The second cell was apprehended while in possession of an unspecified quantity of explosives.

Okba Ibn Nafaa militants are also believed to operate farther south, in the governorates of Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid, along the same mountain range that runs along the Tunisian-Algerian border.

Okba Ibn Nafaa militants who were thought to be associated with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb AQIM, although Okba Ibn Nafaa social media accounts have issued contradictory statements about the group’s allegiance(s), suggesting there may be a split within the group with some members favoring Islamic State.